Lords of Chaos
Arrow Films | Release Date: February 8, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
4
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
IndieWireMichael NordineFeb 7, 2019
Much like the music, Lords of Chaos is frequently unpleasant but oddly compelling — not least because Åkerlund ensures that the film never takes itself as seriously as its subjects did. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartFeb 6, 2019
Cohen, so good in 2015’s “Brooklyn,” is chilling as the shark-eyed Varg (who has been linked to hate crimes in France in recent years), and Culkin brings just the right amount of eye-twitch to Aarseth, who seemingly enjoyed making grandiose proclamations of “evil” and donning corpse makeup rather than actual criminal activity — yet did little to stop out-of-control followers. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweOct 4, 2018
As a depiction of the very public emergence of a marginal movement, Lords of Chaos provokes both awe and repulsion, but not necessarily admiration for a musical form and subculture unwaveringly devoted to literalism, no matter how extreme. Read full review
70
Screen DailyNikki BaughanOct 4, 2018
Despite the film’s inherent shock value, Lords Of Chaos still manages to successfully mine the explosive psychology of adolescent angst - even if the horror movie aesthetics occasionally threatens to overwhelm proceedings. Read full review
70
VarietyAmy NicholsonOct 4, 2018
Åkerlund’s music videos established him as a whiz-bang technician, a skill he only unleashes in two terrifying montages. Lords of Chaos proves that he can also get great performances out of a young cast, especially Kilmer’s otherworldly Dead. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerFeb 6, 2019
Åkerlund's style, and his quietly sensitive handling of the bloody details, will still bang the head that does not bang. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakFeb 6, 2019
Lords of Chaos the film ultimately could care less about the music when the psychology of this scene’s progenitors is what intrigues. So those expecting to learn about the genre will be sorely disappointed. This is about aesthetic, notoriety, and paranoia. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 28, 2019
The violence was for me almost unwatchable, but it’s a well-made and worryingly plausible film. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeOct 4, 2018
Åkerlund’s understanding is more like contempt, in a film that downplays the bigotry of the Norwegian black metal scene and shrugs off the severity of its actions with a “boys will be boys” approach that has no reverence for the scene, but doesn’t provide any insight into it, either. Read full review
42
ConsequenceRobert HamFeb 7, 2019
Lords of Chaos can’t seem to find its center for the entirety of its indulgent two-hour runtime. From moment to moment, the mood shifts from comic to dramatic to horrific to exploitative. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleFeb 13, 2019
Ultimately it all adds up to a hodgepodge of styles and attitudes with hardly any insight into what made this corrosive clique so magnetic to its adherents. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsFeb 8, 2019
Still: the cold half (ie: the important half) of Lords of Chaos is so ugly and mean-spirited that I couldn't really enjoy the other parts of the film that work, not even Rory Culkin's fantastic lead performance, or the on-screen chemistry that he shares with supporting actress Sky Ferreira (as photographer/love interest Ann-Marit). Read full review
38
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonFeb 4, 2019
Jonas Åkerlund’s breezy approach to this material not only cheapens the music, but also has the effect of downplaying the severity of the scene’s truly unsavory politics. Read full review
30
Film ThreatChuck FosterFeb 26, 2019
Of course, the argument can be made that a film is a work of art, which grants extended artistic license. Fine, then why not use the events as a basis for a fictional story rather than deliver unabashed inaccuracy in the name of art? Read full review
30
Rolling StoneKory GrowFeb 8, 2019
Somehow, though, he made a movie that, to paraphrase an album from the director’s former musical endeavor, has seriously missed the Black Mark. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 6, 2019
Akerlund, a veteran music-video director who intersperses Lords of Chaos with mildly surrealistic bursts, never establishes a coherent or interesting point of view. The tone unproductively veers from the goofy to the creepy, which creates a sense that he was still figuring it out in the editing. Read full review
25
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthFeb 5, 2019
Lords Of Chaos is more interested in the spectacle than the substance behind the true story, and that kind of phoniness likely wouldn’t even get the film or Åkerlund invited into The Black Circle. Read full review
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